[I am not Divine, I am human, like every one of you. My forces will have the food supply released to you within one minute. Please have the regular workers distribute food as normal. There is no need for panic or hoarding, the battle for the city is over, and you are in charge of your own fates.
Once the zealots who would see you remain as slaves are eliminated, an additional force will arrive to assist you with governance during the transition to full self-rule. Again they will be humans sent to assist you, not some Divine beings who would see you as beneath them.] Max announced from Cleansing Light, relayed through the city thanks to Nico's control over their public broadcasting system.
The cameras of the drones overhead showed the orderly procession of humans heading to various stores and warehouses while workers in uniforms hesitantly opened the doors, then looked around inside, not finding any of the Grax.
Normally, they would be given permission to proceed, but the automated systems had stocked the shelves, so they began their work with minimal fuss, handing out plain cardboard boxes, which Max could see everyone leaving with.
That was a good start. At least the city wasn't in civil war.
Yet.
The same could not be said for many of the other cities, which had to physically break into their warehouses to distribute the day's supplies. It didn't escape the notice of the civilians that the military had to break into their own facilities, as the Grax weren't there to let them in anymore. The scenes in those cities were much more chaotic, even without accounting for the artillery bombardment that was keeping their mecha forces pinned down and shaking the air of the city.
All day Max waited for something to happen, but the live stream of him and one single Super Heavy Mecha stopping the attacking force trying to leave the city was enough to dissuade the others from making a move during the daylight hours.
[Sir, we have movement from the position at F4. A large mass of civilians left the city with hand tools. If they are hostile, the estimated effectiveness is zero.] Second Battalion Command informed him.
[Maybe they're going to work? Hell, maybe they are running away from the city. We will have orbital data, and drones keep tabs on them in case they're going to a secret weapons warehouse, but for now, let them go wherever they please.] Max ordered.
There was no other news for most of an hour as darkness settled in over the side of the planet that Max was on, then Second Battalion reported again.
[They're coming back, looks like they're pulling carts loaded with supplies. Raw grains and root vegetables. They must have gathered them from a farm storage location.] The logistics officer reported.
[That's fine. We aren't trying to starve them out. Let them go. Propaganda will incorporate it into the upcoming messages. I am sure that they will be overjoyed to find out that we aren't stopping them from getting food or living their lives. We are just after the military assets.]
It might just be the strangest battle that Max had ever been involved in, but over the course of the day, on the far side of the planet, teams left every location and returned with food, using all manual tools and wagons.
It couldn't be enough to support the population, and Max wondered if there was some sort of replicator technology in the warehouses inside the city, like they had aboard Terminus.
The video of the teams going out and back with supplies played in the broadcasts, which incited the population against the Military, which had insisted in most cities that the warehouses could not be accessed without permission from the Grax, and put the food under lock and key.
The teams that were sent out were zealots, gathering rations for the military, and once night fell, the civilians began to feel hungry enough that food mattered more than threats. In some cities, the guards on the warehouses were attacked, and the food supply locations were looted. In others, small teams of rebels left the city, waving at the Terminus Mecha along the route as they passed through to the food warehouses, finding them broken wide open and guarded by a small team of Light Mecha, who helped them load carts to bring food back to the city.
It was a genius idea of Major Miller, who insisted that the key to loyalty would always be food, so if the Mecha made sure that the rebels could sneak into the warehouses to get anything that they needed and didn't attack them, it would help reinforce the subliminal messaging that the invading Mecha were their friends and liberators.
Aboard Terminus, both the Illithid and the Innu were highly impressed by the show, and the Innu had equipped a number of the Drone Fighters with their advanced cameras so they could get a suitable set of footage to end their documentary since they would be heading back home after this engagement.
They had more than enough for a full documentary on the Humans of this Galaxy and planned to make a sequel if this one sold well, but that would be at least two years from now, once approval was given and funding was secured.
They had also helped Nico set up a better social media presence for the Terminus Trading Company and Cruise Line. That way, she could post random videos, the Innu could tag her in their posts, and they could advertise their "Unscripted Adventure Cruise" service, which was a somewhat gray market in the Alliance, but not outright prohibited, except by a few members nations which fully banned travel to high-risk locations.
Mostly those were the more fragile and environmentally sensitive species, who wouldn't fare well in a standardized atmosphere designed for other species of much larger stature.
For example, the Pix, who was only six centimeters tall and whose wings were very easily damaged by energy surges and sudden warp shifts. Their council had deemed the risk of visiting the humans too high, as an attack on Terminus, even if it was absorbed by the shields, could cause an energy surge through the ship high enough to accidentally kill their species.
Another day passed in chaos as the food supply runs on both sides continued, and the situation inside the cities began to deteriorate. The attacks that Max hadn't come until the very last moment, though, and the first of them wasn't aimed at his force but at the civilians.
[Sir, we have a situation. We have an official request from one of the cities to eliminate the military presence within their walls. They have begun attacking the population for failing to adhere to their orders.] Major Miller informed him.
[Prepare to move. I will be there in seventeen minutes.] Max replied, leaving his position and heading for the city that the First Company of the First Battalion was guarding.
The other cities weren't likely to be far behind them, and his forces were stretched thin, so Max ordered Nico and the Drone pilots to stand by for emergency deployment. If they needed to eliminate forces inside the city, the small and agile drone fighters would be better than Super Heavy Mecha, and cause less collateral damage.
